July 10, 2003

 

NDSU Nutrition Expert Says Trans Fat Nutrition Labeling an Aid to Healthy Food Choices

On July 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced its decision to require food manufacturers to include information about trans fat on nutrition labels. That’s good news for consumers interested in preventing or controlling heart disease, says a North Dakota State University nutrition specialist.

"Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for North Dakotans and elevated blood cholesterol is a major risk factor," says Jane Edwards, a food and nutrition specialist with the NDSU Extension Service. "Information on trans fat is one more tool you use to help make healthier food choices at the grocery store. With the new food labeling, consumers will be able to tell how many grams of trans fat is available per serving in a food."

Research indicates that trans fat is linked to an increase in LDL_cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and a decrease in HDL_cholesterol ("good" cholesterol). "These changes in blood cholesterol increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease," Edwards notes. "Saturated fat, a well_known culprit in the risk for heart disease, increases LDL_cholesterol but does not reduce HDH_cholesterol. So trans fat provides more risk for heart disease than saturated fat." Studies found that as the intake of trans fat increased so did the incidence of coronary heart disease.

What foods contain trans fat? Trans fat is a specific kind of fat formed during the manufacture of foods such as margarine and shortening when liquid vegetable oils are converted into solid fats by a process called "hydrogenation." Trans fat is also found in processed foods such as snack foods, baked goods and salad dressings prepared with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Trans fat is also formed with high temperatures used in deep fat frying in restaurants. There is also a small amount of trans fat found naturally in some animal_based foods. The FDA estimates the average intake of trans fat in the U.S. population to be 5.8 grams per day or 2.6 percent of total calories. The intake of saturated fat on a daily basis averages 4 to 5 times the amount of trans fat.

"It is important to choose foods to reduce the intake of both trans fat and saturated fat," Edwards says. Total fat will be listed on the nutrition labels with saturated fat and trans fat listed as separate items and located below the number of grams of total fat. Trans fat does not need to be listed if the total amount of fat is less than 0.5 gram/serving and there are no claims about fat content on the package.

"Currently, there is not enough scientific data to recommend a defined total amount of trans fat on a daily basis. There is some trans fat found in natural foods so a zero intake has not been suggested as a goal," she notes.

What can you do to make good food choices for heart health?

• Choose foods with lower amounts of saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. For a 2000 calorie diet the "budget" for saturated fat is 20 grams per day. Use food labels to help make choices throughout the day to keep your diet within the budget. The budget for dietary cholesterol is 300 milligrams per day.
• Use a variety of vegetable oils. Olive and canola oil are good sources of monounsaturated fat. Soybean, corn, and sunflower oils are good sources of polyunsaturated fat. Nuts are a good source of oils that promote heart health.
• Omega 3 fatty acids are good for heart health because they help reduce triglycerides and blood pressure. They also help to reduce the tendency for blood to clot (blood clots occur prior to heart attacks and some types of stroke). Some fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel are excellent sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Flax seed is an excellent plant source of omega 3 fatty acids.
• Control intake of trans fat by limiting solid margarine and shortenings, products with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and foods that have been deep fat fried.

"The new labeling requirements don’t significantly change the recommendations for healthy eating," Edwards says. "They simply give consumers more complete information for making healthy decisions."

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Source: Jane Edwards, (701) 231_7478, jedwards@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231_9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu